


Through Your Teeth

by Overgrown_Druid



Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Execution, Gen, Ghostbur can't freaking concentrate, I have a pickaxe, My best friend called me a hoe for making this 6.2 k words, Phil is a worried father, Technoblade Hears Voices (Video Blogging RPF), What Have I Done, and I'll put it through your teeth, but then not, technoblade never dies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-10
Updated: 2021-01-10
Packaged: 2021-03-14 22:09:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,236
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28677930
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Overgrown_Druid/pseuds/Overgrown_Druid
Summary: Technoblade is tired, angry, and has a pickaxe.Quackity gets in the way of his escape.And one thing leads to another.*****Preparation, a fight, a botched execution, and another fight
Relationships: Technoblade & Phil Watson (Video Blogging RPF), Wilbur Soot & Technoblade
Comments: 2
Kudos: 95





	Through Your Teeth

**Author's Note:**

> I did not proofread this. My best friend was going to for me but I'm impatient so if you see something wrong, no you didn't
> 
> CW: I didn’t put a descriptive violence tag on this because the violence isn’t too descriptive, but it’s still there. There’s some blood and a broken rib, as well as an allusion to a gruesome death

“You wanna be a hero Tommy?”

Tommy’s eyes went wide as he started to piece together what Techno was doing.

“Then die like one!”

He spread his arms wide and the fully formed withers rushed forward. He could distantly hear the sound of Dream’s laughter and it mixed with his own.

*****

Technoblade retired.

*****

He was in his cottage, working on healing some zombie villagers, when his communicator dinged. He put down the potions he was holding and pulled it out of his back pocket.

_Philza: They know where you are. Get ready old friend ___

He sent back a quick chain of question marks in response to the other man’s cryptic message, while ditching his villagers in favor of climbing the ladder out of his basement. He ran to the windows of his house and looked out into the snowy biome, sending another message to Phil. His comm dinged in his hand almost immediately.

_Technoblade: Who is they ___

_Philza: They found the compass ___

His breath hitched but he still asked the question running through his mind. The voices in his head screamed but he tuned them out with a skill born from practice.

_Technoblade: WHO ___

_Philza: Quackity and a gang ___

He put away his comm and started running around his house, gathering some of his things. He went and got his rocket launcher and sword out of a chest, along with his trident, and as a last second decision, a totem of undying. At the sight of the blade, chat screamed for blood. “I am not ready for a fight, chat.” He said, and the screams died down slightly. His comm dinged again and he looked at the screen, reading Phil’s message. “They have netherite?! I thought they were broke!”

Some more running around and looking through chests revealed that he didn’t have any fireworks. He scowled but grabbed a stack of weakness tipped arrows to try to compensate for it.

His comm dinged and he let out a whisper scream, his mind scrambling to try to come up with some sort of plan.

_Philza: Big Q, Ranboo, Tubbo, and Fundy ___

He just stared at the string of text for a moment. “Oh no no no-this is not acceptable. We need gapples.” And he was off in another flurry of motion.

It was a bit hard to find what he needed. He opened a chest that he was sure he put gapples in, but they weren’t there. He shook his head and pulled a stack from the chest under it. “I’m pretty sure I put gapples in that chest earlier.” Maybe he was going crazy. He couldn’t be going crazy. The voices in his head didn’t think he was crazy.

He opened his potions chest and found a stack of wheat sitting on the top. “I think Phil’s been here.” He grabbed a few different types of potions from the chest before running outside into the snow to grab water from a nearby pond. He ran back inside and started to speedily make strength potions.

He was trying to get glowstone when he opened his door to see if anyone was coming towards his house. He was met with a friendly wave from Ghostbur, who was standing out in the snow. He closed the door. “I do not have time for whatever that ghost outside is!”

He opened his door again to look at the ghost. “He’s just standing there!” He closed the door again and ran back to his brewing stands.

A few seconds later, he heard a quiet ‘Hello?’ and turned around to see the top half of Ghostbur sticking out through his wall. Ghostbur smiled at the sight of his brother (for he couldn’t remember him as anything else) and fully came into the room. “Hi! Hello Techno!” He said in that weird way of his, his words half there and half not, due to his vocal cords fading in and out of existence every few seconds.

“Ghostbur, this is a terrible time.” Techno returned his attention to his potions. “This is a terrible time, Ghost Of Wilbur Soot.”

Ghostbur frowned, even though Techno couldn’t see it. He knew he was really just Wilbur’s ghost, but to him, him and Wilbur were two very different people, and he didn’t like having them connected in his mind. “Hi. I’m-I’m here. I was just coming through the area an-”

“I’m a little bit busy right now, Wilbur!” Techno interrupted. Unlike Ghostbur, Wilbur and Ghostbur were firmly cemented in Techno’s mind as the same person. He would sometimes separate them, mostly when he started remembering Wilbur like he was when he was alive. In those moments, he couldn’t look at the ghost, old memories paining him too much to do so.

Ghostbur furrowed his brow. “Can I help?”

“How good are you at violence?”

Wilbur floated down from the ceiling and started rifling through his pockets (and when did he get pockets? How did that even work?). “Please, please, have some blue.”

Techno shook his head. “I do not have time for blue.” He turned back to his brewing stands. “I don’t even know what I’m crafting at this point”

“Please, calm yourself, calm yourself. Here, have some blue.” Ghostbur came around to stand (float?) beside Techno and gave him some blue. Techno just took it and shoved it into his pocket. Ghostbur started wandering around the cabin. “This is a nice house you’ve got here.” He squatted in front of the enderman in a boat. “Hello, Edward. Nice to meet you.” He looked back to what Techno was doing and seemed to remember that he had offered to help. “I can do potions.” And when he didn’t get an immediate response, “What’s wrong? Why are you so stressed?”

“Ok, so Philza, so they got the compass” Techno said, stumbling over his words “there’s like four dudes. Like, four dudes comin’ to kill me. There’s like four dudes comin’ to kill me.”

“Why would they come and kill you? What have you done wrong?”Ghostbur asked, already holding more blue.

Techno didn’t answer the question and instead asked himself where his arrows were. Ghostbur gave him almost a full stack of spectral arrows and Techno decided he didn’t want to know where they had come from . “Thank you.”

“I can do brewing. What potions do you want?” Ghostbur asked.

Techno decided that a little help couldn’t hurt. “Strength.” He ran to one of the windows and looked out over a hill. “Ok, they’re not here.” He turned back to Ghostbur, who just had a thoughtful look on his face. He thought about it, and decided that maybe a little help _would ___hurt. “I’m going to be honest, I don't think you being here is going to expedite the process at all.”

Ghostbur nodded and went down into the basement, going through the floor instead of using the ladder. “I’m going to go put vines on the house.”

______________Techno ran over to the wall, and instead of using the ladder, just dropped into the basement, speed walking to catch up to Ghostbur. Between the voices in his head screaming for blood on a constant loop and this very annoying ghost who couldn’t focus on one thing at a time, he was starting to become even more stressed than he already was. “Vines on my house?!”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________He watched as Ghostbur rooted a vine onto the side of his house, then moved to go place another one. “I was just passing through the area, and I just wanted to check in on you. I’m not going to be here for very long.” He placed another vine and went up the front steps, phasing through the door, and back into the house. Techno ran after him. “Dream sent me into the wilderness and I’ve just kinda been wandering for a while.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________He started on a tangent about how he melts in the rain but Techno cut him off. “That's great, that’s wonderful, ya gotta get outta here Wilbur.” He started explaining why Ghostbur should leave but the ghost just floated around the room lazily before phasing through the front door. Techno took a deep breath to try and calm himself. It didn’t work._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________He opened the door just in time to hear Ghostbur gasp. “Techno, look!” Ghostbur pointed and when Techno saw what he was looking at, he gave an exasperated sigh. It was a blue sheep. A sheep. That Ghostbur had probably dyed blue. And forgotten about. “It’s a sign!” Ghostbur said. “Blue!” Techno vaguely wondered if Wilbur’s death had somehow given Ghostbur ADHD or something._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________Then he had an idea. “Ghostbur, I need you to take that sheep as far away from here as you can.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________“Can I have a leash?” Techno went back inside to grab one. Ghostbur followed him inside. “Would it be easier for you if I went far away?”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________“Ah-I just want you to be safe Ghostbur.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________“I’m always safe.” Ghostbur rebutted. “Nothing can hurt you when you’re already dead. What are they going to do? Double dead me?” Techno would have laughed in any other situation but he just pressed a lead into Ghostbur’s cold hands with a quick ‘take this’. Ghostbur walked to look out the door and Techno followed him. “It’s stopped snowing now, what if I just stand over there?”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________“Hide over like, a hill or something.” Ghostbur nodded and started walking off._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________“Ok. Come here, blue boy.” He turned around and gave Techno a quick wave. ”Bye bye.” Techno gave him a small wave in return and went back inside the house._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________*****_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________He was in the middle of speed making tons of potions when Phil gave him another ominous warning. He looked out his window and to the side saw Ghostbur leading the blue sheep away._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________“Phil said they were nearby.” He whispered under his breath as he moved from the window to the door. He opened the door and out on the hill, saw the outline of more than a few people. He closed the door and loaded the crossbow in his hands, clipping it to his belt once the arrow was securely knocked._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________He then proceeded to watch from his window as they started talking to Ghostbur. “That plan to send Ghostbur out did not work at all. He was immediately captured.” He said it as a sort of joke, but it did nothing to relieve his nerves. They kept talking, and after a few moments the ghost turned and pointed in the direction of his house. “Did he just turn and point at me?! Did he just tell them where I am?!” Sure enough, the small band of L’Manburgians started walking over to his house. Ghostbur had the audacity to turn and wave at him._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________Ghostbur quickly floated ahead of the gang and phased through Techno’s wall, scaring the other man half of death. Why couldn’t he just use a door? “Hey Technoblade, they said, they say they’re going to kill you. I wanted to let you know.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________“Ghostbur, why are you leading them over to my house? Why are you doing this?”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________Ghostbur didn’t answer. “What do you want me to say back to them?”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________“I want you to say that I’m not here and that they’re at the wrong place.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________“Ok. But that would be lying.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________Techno was getting increasingly frustrated. “I need you to-they’re gonna kill me!”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________By then it was too late and the gang of men was standing outside his house. Not doing anything. Just standing there. Techno sighed and walked out onto his porch, Ghostbur flying in front of him and holding his translucent hands up for them to see in a placiating manner. “Technoblade’s not here guys. He’s-”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________Quackity cut him off. “Wilbur, Wilbur.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________“He’s literally right there. We can see him, Wil.” Fundy pointed out._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________________

___“Get out of the way.” Tubbo interjected._ _ _

_____ _

“Ghostbur, I think it’s a little bit late for that.” Techno said to the ghost, who had given up standing on the porch and was floating in the air a few feet outside the railing. 

_____ _

Quackity turned to him. “Technoblade.”

_____ _

In a brilliant moment of contextual awareness Techno said, “Uh, hey. Why have you guys come all the way here, to my humble abode?” He strolled down the front steps-taking pride in the way they stepped away from him-and neared Carl’s stable.

_____ _

“You know what?” Quackity asked, leading the army as they followed him. “Yo-”

_____ _

“You need to pay for your war crimes.” Tubbo cut Quackity off and stepped in front of him. Quackity was acting more like a leader than Tubbo-the literal president-in Techno’s humble opinion.

_____ _

“That was like,” he tried to defend himself. “That was in the past, man. I was a different Technoblade. I’m a changed man now.” He gestured slightly to his cottage. “I’m in retirement. I’m a good person now, Tubbo.”

_____ _

Quackity elbowed Tubbo slightly so they stood side by side, Fundy and Ranboo standing behind them. They all stood a few feet from Techno, who was leaning against his horse’s stable. His posture looked relaxed but no one there trusted that for a second.

_____ _

Quackity took half a step forward. “Techno, you exploded L’Manburg with fi-”

_____ _

Tubbo took half a step forward, so he and Quackity were once again even. Techno was starting to sense a theme here. “You literally spawned withers everywhere.”

_____ _

“I’m sorry Technoblade,” Quackity said. “as much as you’ve changed, you have to be brought to justice for that. There’s nothing that I can do.”

_____ _

“Listen you guys,” Techno put his hand up under his mask and rubbed it down his face. “I have gone to so much effort, over the past month, to change my violent ways.” He made a point to himself to ignore the voices. He may have changed, but they never did. “I have reformed, alright? The voices, they demand blood. And I, I have been denying them.” The voices reached a crescendo in his mind, a chant of Blood For The Blood God going up and he pushed it down as much as he could. “I have been fighting back. Please, please, don’t make me kill all of you.” He rested his hand lightly on his sword’s hilt clipped to his waist, watching their eyes follow his hand. “Please, just leave.”

_____ _

There was a heavy silence as they all stood there, looking at each other.

_____ _

“Technoblade. Come peacefully.” Tubbo said, his voice slightly strained.

_____ _

“You know what? Show us around. What have you been up to?” Quackity asked, a skeptical look on his face. Tubbo shot him a sideways glare.

_____ _

He waved his hand in the direction of the bee farm Phil had built during one of his visits. “I’ve got bees here.” When they all turned to look, he grabbed one of his fire resistance potions and knocked it back, draining the bottle with practiced ease. “Bees are nice. Aren’t the bees nice?”

_____ _

He saw Tubbo’s eyes light up and Fundy hurriedly said “Don’t give in, don’t give in.”

_____ _

While the group was distracted trying to keep their president from looking too closely at the bee farm, Techno straightened up and tried to walk away, as slowly as he could while still trying to be quick enough so that if they noticed him, he’d already have a few feet of a head start.

_____ _

“The bees!” Tubbo exclaimed.

_____ _

Quackity looked away from Tubbo and noticed Techno’s absence. “He’s running!”

_____ _

Techno picked his speed walk up into a run and ran to a nearby tree, noticing Ghostbur watching everything from the hill where he had ratted him out.

_____ _

The group quickly caught up to him and they all stopped, facing each other in a slightly awkward standoff. ‘So they still want a peaceful resolution’ Techno thought. Unfortunately for them, violence was the only universal language. And here, everyone was a native speaker. He drew his sword and the voices _howled ___, delighted. He let them scream.

_____ _

They all drew diamond axes, Quackity and Tubbo still in the front, even though Quackity was the one talking. “We’re not letting you get out of here in one piece. Ok? We’re going to screw you up, Techno. It’s either going to be the easy way or it’s going to be the hard way. We’re going to bring you back to L’Manburg and you’re going to come with us. There’s no other way around it, ok?”

_____ _

“There’s no other way?” He shifted his stance slightly.

_____ _

“Wait!” Ghostbur said from his hill. “Techno’s allowed back in L’Manburg?” He was ignored.

_____ _

“There’s no other way.” Techno repeated, but it wasn’t a question. He grabbed two potions with his hand that wasn’t holding the sword and threw them down onto the snow, feeling the effects hit him immediately. “I choose blood.”

_____ _

Tubbo rushed forward and swung his axe at Techno. He sidestepped the blow and as Tubbo’s momentum carried him forward, he struck his sword out and hit the president in the side using the edge of the blade near the hilt. Tubbo was thrown back and Quackity quickly took his place.

_____ _

Quackity went low and swept his axe in a smooth motion that was meant to catch Techno in the legs and knock him over. He jumped forward and over the blade, bringing his sword down in an arc that would certainly hit Quackity in the head and kill him. But Quackity stumbled back with wide eyes and Techno just landed in the snow in front of him, blade sunk into the ground where Quackity had been standing just a second ago.

_____ _

He heard footsteps behind him and he stood up, grabbing his crossbow from his waist, and turning around, firing an arrow straight into the space between the armor on Fundy’s shoulder. The fox hybrid stepped back from the force of it and Techno turned around just in time to block a blow from Quackity using his sword.

_____ _

Quackity smiled and shoved his axe forward, a small wisp of steam rising up from where the cool diamond was pinned against the hot netherite. Techno grit his teeth and strengthened his grip on the sword. Quackity smiled wider and pushed forward just a little more. He was pushing too much of his weight onto the axe, and Techno used this to his advantage, kicking his leg out so that he hit Quackity’s knee. Quackity crumpled, and Techno stepped aside so he could face plant into the snow, using the small lull to reload his crossbow.

_____ _

He turned around and saw both Tubbo and Fundy running towards him. He rose his crossbow up and fired, hitting Tubbo in the thigh. Tubbo paused but didn’t stop moving forward, although he was noticeably slower, the weakness tip taking effect.

_____ _

Fundy slammed the hilt of his axe onto Techno’s outstretched forearm, and Techno dropped his crossbow. Fundy took a step back and swung his axe towards Techno’s neck. Unfortunately for him, his actions were slowed down and weakened by the weakness arrow from earlier and he was telegraphing his moves far too much. Techno held his hand up and caught the diamond blade in it, a small trickle of blood falling from his palm and staining the snow as it dripped. He smiled viciously and revelled in the way Fundy’s eyes went wide with fear. Chat screamed, noticing Fundy’s reaction as well. It sounded joyous.

_____ _

He realised he may have revelled in his awesomeness a second too long when Tubbo came up on his other side and swung _his ___axe at his head. Techno pushed Fundy’s blade back and dropped into a roll, just in time to miss a blow from Quackity, who was back on his feet. As he rolled away from the little murder party, he grabbed his crossbow and knocked another arrow.

_____ _

The three of them turned to face him and they all assessed the damages. Tubbo was limping silently from the jab Techno had landed earlier, as well as bleeding from the arrow sticking out of his thigh. Fundy was bleeding from the arrow wound in his shoulder, and Quackity was just out of breath and had snow sticking to him. The only hit they had landed to Techno was the small gash on his palm, which was done bleeding and barely hurt. The snow around them was messy and muddy from their fight and there were a few arrows sticking out of the ground. Techno shot a quick look over his shoulder and saw Ranboo standing there, more than a little awkwardly, holding a bow.

Chat was happy with how things were turning out but Techno was slightly disappointed with how easy this fight was turning out to be. 

The three in front of him raced forward, axes raised and they entered into another bout of fighting. At one point, Tubbo stepped a bit too far to the side and Techno singled him out, getting in a number of rapid hits. Tubbo started running and Techno followed closely, Tubbo yelling for his allies to help him. Tubbo put forth another burst of speed but Techno threw an ender pearl, landing in a squatting position behind Tubbo. In one swift move, he stuck his sword out to trip Tubbo, stood up, and stabbed the boy in the back, right where his heart was. Some blood shot out of the wound and hit Techno’s mask, as well as coating his sword and getting some specks on his hands. Tubbo screamed but he was cut off as his body turned into a gray ash, leaving his items laying in the snow.

He turned around and leapt forward, towards Fundy, who was closest to him. Fundy turned tail and tried to run but Techno was fueled by adrenaline and the bloodthirsty screams of thousands of faceless voices. He quickly caught up to Fundy and swiped his sword against the back of his knees. Fundy crumpled and got a sword to the back, same as Tubbo. He stepped over the disintegrating body, the pooling blood drenching the white fluff on the bottom of his cloak. 

He moved forward to find and kill Quackity or Ranboo, but instead of Quackity standing there or running to him, Quackity was standing there holding Carl’s reins.

“Wait wait wait! What are you doing?!” Techno yelled. “What are you doing with that horse!”

“You stop. Stop right now.” Quackity said to Techno, who was already prepared to lunge forward and slit Quackity’s throat. Ranboo and Tubbo (who was already back and had his items requipped) stood a few yards away from Quackity, facing Techno. Fundy joined them a few seconds later, but all he had was his axe.

“No, no, you stop right there! You get away from that horse right now, Quackity!” He shifted his stance, putting his weight onto the balls of his feet, getting ready to jump forward and take vengeance for his beloved horse.

“No. You get away from them, Technoblade.” Techno didn’t move. “Pull any crap and I’m going to kill Carl.” Quackity took Carl’s armor off and threw it into the snow. “I’m going to kill Ca-”

“Quackity, that horse is innocent. That horse is innocent. Leave that horse out of this.”

“I’m going to kill him. Step away from them.”

Techno turned to look at Fundy and Tubbo, who were the ones moving. “I’m not approaching them. I’m minding my business, Quackity.”

“Drop your stuff.” Tubbo ordered.

“Technoblade, I am going to kill your horse-” Quackity started again.

“Why would you do that.”

“I’m going to kill your horse-”

“Why would you do that. Why would you kill my horse.”

“-unless you cooperate with us, alright.”

Techno sighed heavily and stood straight up. “What do you want?”

Quackity smiled. “Drop your things.”

*****

Armor, potions, ender pearls, an empty bucket, a sword, golden apples, arrows, and a crossbow sat in a pile in the snow.

Glaring at the people taking his things was a very pissed Technoblade. He felt naked standing there in his normal clothes (brown riding pants, thick brown lace up combat boots, a blousy white shirt, red cloak, red waistband, mask made from a hoglin skull, and a crown. He was honestly overdressed to be feeling so vulnerable) but he took pride in the way the army of four kept their space from him, even without his normal armor and weapons.

(He hadn’t dropped all his items)

*****

They took boats back to L’Manburg, and Carl was dragged behind them, much to Techno’s chagrin. Ghostbur came with them.

They came up to the docks and Techno was escorted to L’Manburg. He thought about breaking away from them and running but they had all his things. He knew he could take them on, but he would rather not. They still had Carl.

They entered L’Manburg and the first thing Techno noticed was the big stage with the large tower looming above it. The second thing he noticed was Phil watching them from the door of his house, a sad look on his face, and a frickin’ house arrest boot on his ankle.

Carl was put in a pit a ways away from the stage.

He was pushed up onto the stage and into a cage at the base of the tower. Upon closer inspection, the large tower was some sort of redstone thing and had an anvil at the top. He looked to Tubbo, who was standing at a podium center stage, with a lever next to him. Three guesses as to what that did. The rest of the army who had come after him was sitting in chairs in front of the stage.

“I thought this was a trial?”

Tubbo turned his head to him and smiled nervously. “Well, you see, you’re kind of a war criminal-”

“The outcome of the trail has already been decided.” Quackity interrupted from the first row of seats. Once Techno survived whatever they had planned for him, Quackity was the first person he was killing. “Verdict, guilty. Punishment, execution.” The line was probably supposed to make him weep and beg for mercy and his life, but all he really did was raise an eyebrow skeptically. Quackity tried again. “When he flicks that lever,” he gestured to the lever by Tubbo, “that anvil’s gonna drop and it’s gonna freaking kill you.”

Techno stuck his hand in his pocket and brushed his fingers against his Totem of Undying. He smiled to himself. They actually trusted him to give them everything. It was ridiculous.

Tubbo then proceeded to give a speech on how Techno destroyed the country or something. He honestly wasn’t listening. He leaned against the bars of his cage and looked over to Phil’s house, where the worried man was standing in the doorway. He gave him a two fingered salute and Phil just gave him a flat look in return.

In the middle of a brief incident with Punz that actually made Techno chuckle, he heard a whisper to his side. He turned his head and saw Ghostbur standing there, holding a lead attached to the blue sheep from earlier.

Ghostbur smiled and pointed at the sheep. “I named him Friend!”

“That’s fantastic, Ghostbur. I’m about to die, Ghostbur.”

There was a lot more yelling-this execution was so scuffed-before someone shouted for Tubbo to pull the lever. Tubbo ran up onto the stage and Techno stood up straight, grabbing the totem from his pocket and holding it, his hand hidden beneath his cloak.

The lever was pulled and Techno saw Phil straighten up, his wings tensing, out of the corner of his eye. The anvil fell and Techno looked up as it got closer and closer.

There was a sickening crack as the anvil made contact.

Techno didn’t get a chance to feel it though, because as soon as it had touched him, the totem in his hand dissolved into nothing and the air around him filled with swirling green magic. Techno took a deep breath and smiled. He punched the glass making up the front of his cage and it shattered, leaving small scrapes on his knuckles. He stepped over the broken anvil at his feet and jumped off the stage, landing in a crouch. 

Phil smiled proudly. Everyone else was too stunned to stop him as he ran away.

He ran towards the pit Carl was in but there was someone on his back. They saw Techno running up to him and steered Carl into a hole in the nearby hill. Techno had no clue who had his horse and he was dying to put a fist through their face.

He neared the hole, hearing the L’Manburg government finally come after him, and Dream stuck his head out of the hole. He ran in and saw his horse standing there. Turns out the hole was actually a tunnel. Dream started blocking up the opening behind them.

Dream turned and whispered to him “Head down. There’s a chest.”

Techno wasn’t about to argue with him. He mounted Carl and rode him down the steps of the tunnel. Right into a blackstone room lined with chests. A sign labeled this strange area as the ‘Final Control Room’. Techno had heard about this place.

He dismounted Carl and opened the nearest chest, finding iron armor, a few potions, a pickaxe, some golden apples, and a lead. He hesitated to grab anything but something outside exploded and he started putting on the armor. He opened an ender chest against the wall and grabbed more potions and another totem. He looked down the tunnel and went to mount Carl, but saw that the tunnel’s roof was too low to allow him to ride, and too narrow to let him lead Carl away. He held the pickaxe in his hand. It would take too long to mine away all the stone, but it was his only option.

He was mining away, when he heard someone speak behind him. “What the hell is this Techno?” He turned around. Quackity stood at the entrance of the control room. “What the hell are you doing here?” Quackity held his diamond axe and Techno quickly evaluated the situation. He had iron armor and a pickaxe. Quackity had netherite armor and a diamond axe.

Techno sighed in annoyance. He was tired. It was time to end this.

*****

“It’s not what it looks like.” Techno said.

Quackity gripped his axe. “How the hell did that anvil not kill you?” 

Techno laughed dryly. “Did you really think, Quackity, that you could kill me that easily?”

“How did you do it? How did you do that?” Quackity was freaking out and confused and annoyed and so many things all at once. But most of all, he was furious. A slip of paper in his pocket weighed heavy. Two words were on it but Quackity was really only focused on the first one.

“You think death can stop me, Quackity? You know what?” He threw his arms out in a wide gesture. “You know what? You know, I tried convincing you guys that government was not the answer, that government was actually the cause of all your problems, alright? I tried convincing you guys by fighting alongside you, as brothers. But you just cast me aside, you used me. I tried to use force, and you still formed a government. And when I went into hiding, when I retired, when I swore off violence, you hunted me down. You hurt my friends.”

Quackity glared at the pink haired man. “You don’t understand. You don’t understand what we’re trying to build here, Techno. This is not-”

“You’re trying to build your own power.” Techno said it quieter than how he said his speech a minute ago, but his voice was full of steel.

“This is not a simple anarchy thing. This is what you don’t understand, alright? You think I give a crap about the withers? No. You’re on the hit list Techno.”

“What hit list?”

Quackity didn’t answer. “We’re building a country here. What we have up there is a country. What we need is organization and power. And I don't care how long it takes me, but what I have to do to get you Techno, I’m going to kill you.”

“I just have one question, Quackity.” Techno signed and put a hand on the back of his head. “Do you think you’re enough-” he made a small, jerky movement with his hand and his mask came falling down, clattering against the stone floor, “do you think you’re enough to kill me?” Quackity froze as blood red eyes stared him down and filled him with fear. Techno noticed how he tensed and smiled, but there was only malice and a threat of violence behind it. “Even unarmed with iron armor?”

Quackity gathered up all the strength he had in him. “You know what? Let’s find out you son of a *****.” Quackity ran forward and swung his axe at the unmasked warrior.

Techno smiled again and held up an arm, blocking Quackity’s hit with a netherite pickaxe. His eyes were manic. Quackity pushed his axe hard against the tool, but neither Techno nor his tool budged. “I have this pickaxe, Quackity.” He nodded his head towards the pickaxe. Quackity grit his teeth and jumped back from the self proclaimed ‘Blood God’. “And I’m going to put it through your teeth.”

Techno jumped forward and raised his pickaxe. As soon as he was within hitting distance of Quackity, he brought it down against the diamond axe. Sparks flew.

Techno had always been a good fighter. The best. But Quackity had never seen him fight like he did now. He was fast and brutal, not even dodging blows and instead just taking them, red ribbons of blood flowing down his arms and staining his shirt. He dealt blows with more force than he took them, and Quackity wondered if this was what it was like to face Technoblade in war. Not in interserver skirmishes between nations, but full on, bloody war. He wondered if this was what it was like to face this man, knowing you couldn’t win, but also knowing that if you turned to run, there’d be a weapon sticking out of your chest, and you’d already be respawning before you realised you were dead.

Techno swung his pickaxe at Quackity again, and Quackity just barely dodged, the tool sticking out of the stone next to his head. Techno pulled it out with such a force that pieces of rock came flying out of the small hole he had made. He smiled like a predator that had just cornered its prey. “I’ll put it through your teeth!”

Quackity swung out again with his axe, hitting Techno in the shoulder. “You have done so much damage!” He swung again, but missed as Techno moved to the side with a speed that no human should have. “Everything we’ve built!” Techno swung his pickaxe low, trying to trip him, and Quackity stumbled back. “And if there’s one fight I’m going to win, it’s this one! So don’t even freaking try me!”

He swung his axe, and to his surprise, Techo used the curve of his pickaxe to hook his axe right where the blade met the hilt. He pulled the pickaxe toward him, and Quackity was pulled forward, dropping his axe. Techno caught him roughly by the front of his shirt and pulled him forward, so that Quackity’s ear was by his mouth. He whispered to him.

“ _Through. Your. Teeth. ___”

Techno pushed him roughly to the ground and Quackity hit it hard. He tried to sit up and move back. He was stopped by Techno placing a heavy boot on his chest. He heard his ribs creak. Techno pushed his foot down harder, and he felt one of his ribs snap, resulting in an absolutely blinding pain.

He barely noticed Techno bringing his pickaxe down as he followed through on his promise.

He died and in the few painless seconds before he respawned, he noticed Techno rolling up his sleeves. Under them were hundreds of small scars that swarmed around larger ones.

He respawned and sat up in his bed, gasping for air.

_(When you respawned, everything reset. You weren’t tired, hungry, thirsty, etc. But the most obvious thing about respawning was your scars. Unless what had killed you was traumatizing, important, grand, or the like (Tubbo’s starburst shaped scar on his chest that would never fade, no matter how many times he died), every scar you had faded when you died._

__

_For Techno to have that many scars on his arms alone? ___

__

_Maybe ‘Technoblade never dies’ wasn’t just the man being cocky.) ___

He didn’t talk to anyone about what happened down in the tunnel, even when prompted to by all of the cabinet.

*****

Techno and Carl went home. Techno was humming the entire ride there, trying to drown out the voices.

*****

He was met with quite a surprise when he reached his cabin.

*****

Tommy hestitanly pushed the button Techno had placed on the wall. The mountain Techno was facing cracked, and a small slit appeared at the top of the hollowed out area.

Slowly, the wall lowered.

Tommy screamed when he saw what was inside, falling backwards into the freezing snow.

Techno started chuckling.

It turned into a laugh as he turned around in a grand gesture, mask and hands flecked with dried blood from who knows where.

“Welcome home, _Theseus ___!”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Your prize for making it this far: 
> 
> https://www.reddit.com/r/oddlyterrifying/comments/dh9jdc/xray_of_a_horse_skull_look_at_those_teeth/ 
> 
> An x ray of a horse skull (my sanity is gone)


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